Sheet feeder apparatus for printing machines



SHEET FEEDER APPARATUS FOR PRINTING MACHINES I Filed Feb. 27, 1959 K. JAMESON Dec. 20, 1960 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 iNvEN-roP.

A'T'roRNEYS Dec. 20, 1960 K. JAMESON 2,965,022

SHEET FEEDER APPARATUS FOR PRINTING MACHINES Filed Feb. 27, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 M INVENTGR Dec. 1960 K. JAMESON 2,965,022

SHEET FEEDER APPARATUS FOR PRINTING MACHINES Filed Feb. 27, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Dec. 20, 1960 I K. JAMESON 2,965,022

SHEET FEEDER APPARATUS FOR PRINTING MACHINES Filed Feb. 27, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 ENVENTQR A -rom eg SEET FEEDER APPARATUS FOR PRINTING MACHINES Keith Jameson, Altrincham, England, assignor to Linotype and Machinery Limited, British company Filed Feb. 27, 1959, Ser. No. 795,991 Claims priority, application Great Britain Mar. 12, 1958 London, England, a

8 Claims.

The main object of the invention is to provide improved control mechanism for effecting stoppage of the press by the no-sheet trip elements when a sheet is not present at the front lays at the appropriate part of the press cycle.

According to the present invention there is provided a mechanism for controlling stoppage of the press by a no-sheet trip element at the feed-board, comprising the combination of an oscillatory driving member power operated in timed sequence with the cycle of the printing press, an oscillatory driven member actuated by the driving member, a stop device under control of the no-sheet trip element for checking travel of the driven member in the absence of a sheet at the no-sheet trip element, and a trip actuating member carried by the oscillatory driving member for operating the trip mechanism to stop the press when the travel of the driven member is checked by the stop device.

In the preferred construction a portion of the oscillatory stroke of the driving member is employed for oscillating the feeler member of the stop device, and a further portion of the stroke is employed for withdrawing the front lays at thefeed-board to an inoperative position.

One form of control mechanism will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side view of a portion of the sheet feeder with the feed-board in an operative lowered position;

Figs. 2, 3 and 4 are side views on an enlarged scale of three associated members in an assembly of the control mechanism;

Fig. 5 is a side view showing the feed-board in a raised position;

Fig. 6 is a side view on an enlarged scale of the nearmost portion of the linkage shown on the left of Fig. 1;

Fig. 7 is a side view of another portion of the linkage lying behind that shown in Fig. 6; and

Fig. 8 is a cross section on the line 8-8 of Fig. 1.

The control mechanism is applied to a sheet feeder incorporating a frame 9 fitted with a feed-board 10 hinged at 11 so that it can be swung to an upright position (Fig. 5). A hinged apron 12 at its free end enables the feed-board to clear the printing press (not shown) when it is raised and lowered. It is to be noted that the present invention is not limited to its application to a feed-board of this nature.

The feed-board 10 is fitted with a pair of laterally spaced front register stops or lays 13, together with associated no-sheet trip elements i4.' Only one of each is shown in the drawings. A further pair of register stops more widely spaced may be provided for alternative, use

2,965,022 Patented Dec. 20, 1960 when large sheets are being fed to the printing machine. For convenience the following description will be confined to the control of asingle front register stop and its associated no-sheet trip element.

As shown in Fig. 1, the feeder is fitted with a rotary main cam 15 which is driven continuously from the printing press in timed sequence with the machine cycle. The cam 15 acts through a double-armed lever 17 to produce reciprocation of a substantially vertical link 18. At its lower end this link is pivoted at 20 to one arm 21 of a double-arm oscillatory rocker 22, which is mounted for free rotation on a cross shaft 23; Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of the rocker. The lever arm 21 is formed with an abutment 24 that serves as a stop. At the free end of the other arm 25 of the rocker 22 is pivoted a pawl 26 fitted with a pin 27 projecting from one side.

Fixed to the shaft 23 .at the far side of the rocker 22 is a second rocker 28 (Fig. 3), which is formed with a arcuate section 30 having stop 16 at one end. On being turned anti-clockwise, the second rocker 28 acts to stop the press by rotating support shaft 23 of the trip mechanism.

A third rocker 31 (Fig. 4), is mounted loosely on the shaft 23 at the far side of the second rocker 28. The oscillatory rocker 3 1 is driven from the driving rocker 22, and it incorporates a radial arm 32, whose'free end is coupled to one arm 33 of a cranked lever 34 pivoted at its other end 35 to the underside of the feed-board adjacent to its hinge 11.

The rocker 31 carries a bracket 36 with a lateral lug I 37, into which is screw-threaded a stud 38 adapted to bear upon the stop 24 on the first rocker 22 during a certain stage in the machine cycle. On the bracket 36 is also a ramp 40 for the pin 27 on the pawl of the first rocker 22. The ramp terminates at one end in a stop 4i.

The coupling between the third rocker 3i and the bellcrank lever 34 consists of .a pair of arms 42, 43 (Fig. 5) arranged side by side. The assembly is connected together at one end by a pivot 44 carrying a roller 45 adapted to ride up and down a fixed ramp 46 on the feeder frame during oscillatory movement of the rocker 31 and its associated crank lever 33. Overlying the ramp is a bracket 47 fixed to the underside of the feed-board. The ramp and bracket together afford a guide slot 48 (Fig. l) for the roller 45.

At its angle the crank lever 34 is connected to the rear end of a substantially horizontal fore-and-aft link 50, Whose front end is pivoted to a depending arm 51 on a rocker shaft 52 carried by a bracket 53 fixed under the feed-board (Fig. 8). The rocker shaft 52 is located under and adjacent the hinged axis 19 for the feed-board apron 12.

On the shaft 52 are fixed two upstanding arms 54, 55. On the arm 54 is pivoted the rear end of a link 56 (Fig. 6), which will be referred to as the front guide link. The front end of the link 56 has a longitudinal slot 57 in which is engaged a pin 59 on the lower end of an arm 58 fixed on a pivot pin 60 that carries a hinged bracket 61 supporting the front register stop 13 and trip element 14. When the arm 58 is drawn back by the slotted link 55 (as shown in Figs. 1 and 6), the front of the bracket 61 is moved down, so as to withdraw the stop 13 and trip element 14 below the level of the feed-board, and thereby permit a sheet to be taken in well-known manner by swinging grippers (not shown) from the feedboard to the cylinder of the printing press. v

The second upstanding arm 55 on the shaft 52 is connected (Fig. 7) to the rear end of a push-pull rod 62. The front end of the rod is provided with a rack section 63 that engages a pinion 64 on a shaft 65 mountedon the hinged bracket 61. On'the shaft is a stepped -'ca-rn 66 which works in association with a no-shcettrip' ele-v ment 14 carried by the hinged bracket. The element is of substantially L form and pivoted at its angle 67. In its normal position, the horizontal arm of the element 14 drops by gravity into a position to act as a stop by engagement endwise with the step on the cam. When a sheet is in position at the front register stop, however, the sheet bears against the upstanding arm of'the trip element, so as to push the element forward, and thereby raise the lower am out of the pathof the cam step.

The push-pull rod 62 is coupled to the feed-board by a spring 68 connected ot a hook 7 i) on the feed-board. This spring acts as a return spring for the control mechanism.

The rod 62 is extensible, one end having a stem 71 which is slidable in a sleeve section 72 pivoted at '73 to the arm 55. A compression spring 74 resiliently holds the rod in its retracted position.

The operation of the mechanism will now be described. The constantly-rotating main cam 15 produces a continuous reciprocation of the vertical link 18. As a result, there is a continuous oscillation of the first rocker 22 in the rocker assembly through the angle A (Fig. 2). During clockwise movement of that rocker, the pin on the pawl 26 engages the stop 41 on the third rocker 31 (Fig. 4) to produce a short clockwise stroke, which takes place through the angle B (Fig. 2) near the end of the stroke of the first rocker. This produces in turn a pull on the horizontal link 50, a forward thrust of the pushpull rod 62 (Fig. 7), and a clockwise movement of the stepped cam 66. The cam is spring loaded anti-clockwise. On the return stroke of the first rocker 22 the link motion as a whole will be caused to follow the first rocker by means of the return spring 68, so that the trip pawl 26 is maintained on the high portion of the ramp 49 (as shown in Fig. 4), where the pawl is raised clear of the second and normally stationary rocker 28 which trips the press.

if a sheet is not present at the register stop 13, thelower arm of the trip element 14 lies in the path of the step on the oscillating cam 66, which acts as a feeler. Further travel of the cam is then prevented. There is now a check in the movement of the horizontal link 62, the associated crank lever 34, and the third rocker 31 of the rocker assembly. However, the anti-clockwise movement of the first rocker 22 continues, until the pin. 27 on the pawl rides off the ramp 49 on the third rocker, when the pawl 26 engages the stop 16 on the second rocker 28. The resulting thrust by the pawl produces an anti-clockwise movement of the second rocker, and thereby anti-clockwise rotation of its supporting shaft 23, so causing a tripping action to stop the press.

At the angular extremity C of the anti-clockwise stroke of the first rocker 22 its abutment 24 engages the stud 38 on the third rocker 31. The consequent anti-clockwise rotation of the rocker 31 thrusts the link 50 to the left, and draws the link 56 to the right, the pin 59 on the arm 53 engaging the end of the slot 57 in the link 56. The bracket 61 is then turned downwarly as shown in Figs. 1 and 6, so depressing the register stop 13 and trip element 14, both when the press is running or when it is in the process of being tripped. If tripping has occurred a short space of time will elapse before the press comes to rest and during this time the abutment 24 on the first rocker will engage the third rocker 31, which is held in its extreme backward position by the trip element 14. This will create a lock, and to prevent damage to the trip element the extensible push-pull rod 62 will expand by virtue of the spring connection 74. I

If a sheet is correctly positioned at the register stop 13, the lower arm of the trip element 14 is raised clear of the cam 66, so enabling the'horizontal link 62 to complete its forward stroke. Near the end of this return stroke, the front guide link is drawn back, and it rocks the hinged bracket 61 so as to pull down the register stop 13 and the trip element 14 below the top level of the feed-board, as

shown in Fig. 1. The sheet is then transferred to the printing press.

It will thus be seen that during the arcuate movement A of the first rocker 22 in the rocker assembly, one end C of the stroke is utilised to produce operation of the front guide 13, the other end B of the stroke is utilised to control the no-sheet trip element 14, and there is an intermediate idle section D of the stroke.

The nature of the linkage is such as to enable the feedboard 10 to be swung up into a substantially vertical position, as shown in Fig. 5, and when the feed-board is turned back downwardly, the linkages are automatically returned to their operative position. On raising of the feed-board, the roller guide 47 at the underside of the feed-board is raised clear of the roller 45, and the pair of arms 42, 42 open out to accommodate the consequent spread between the crank lever 34 on the feed-board and the third rocker 31 on the rocker assembly.

The small angular movement of the hinged apron section 12 of the feed-board is accommodated by the pinand-slot connection 57 of the front guide link and by the spring connection 74 between the two parts of the pushpull rod.

I claim:

1. In a sheet feeding apparatus for a printing press, of the type described, a mechanism for controlling stoppage of the press by a no-sheet trip element at the feed board, comprising the combination of an oscillatory driving member power operated in timed sequence with the cycle of the printing press, an oscillatory driven member actuated by the oscillatory driving member in timed relation thereto, astop device cooperating with and under the direct control of the no-sheet trip element to cause a checking in the normal travel of the oscillatory driven member in the absence of a sheet at the no-sheet trip element, at suitable trip mechanism for stopping said press, and a trip actuating member carried by the oscillatory driving member for actuating the trip mechanism to stop the press when the travel of the oscillatory driven member is checked by said stop device.

2. A control mechanism as claimed in claim 1, wherein the stop device comprises an oscillatory feeler member coupled to and actuated by the oscillatory driven member and an arresting element actuated by the no-sheet trip element for controlled engagement with the oscillatory feeler member to check its travel and thereby the travel of the oscillatory driven member in the absence of-a sheet. 1

3. A control mechanism as claimed in claim 2, wherein the oscillatory feeler member is a rotary cam having a suitable step thereon for controlled engagement by said arresting element and adapted to be oscillated during the press operation cycle by a suitable linkage coupled to the oscillatory driven member. 7

4. A control mechanism as claimed in claim 2, wherein'the trip actuating mechanism comprises a pawl carried by the oscillatory driving member and adapted in its normally operative position to be held clear of the trip mechanism by a ramp on the oscillatory driven member and so drive said member in one direction, a check in the travel of the oscillatory driven member causing the pawl to ride down the ramp to a position for operating the trip mechanism on the next oscillation.

5. A control mechanism as claimed in claim 4 wherein the oscillatory driving and driven members are in the form of suitable rockers freely rotatable on a common shaft forming part of the trip mechanism, the shaft having fixed thereon between the above two named rockers, a third rocker for controlled engagement by the pawl to rotate said shaft and thereby operate the trip mechanism and stop the press.

6. A control mechanism as claimed in claim 2 wherein the first portion of theoscillatory stroke of the oscillatory driving member and the oscillatory driven member is employed. for oscillating the feeler member of said stop de- 5 vice, and the last portion of the stroke is employed for in the link coupled to the oscillatory feeler member is an withdrawing the front lays at the feed board to an inextensible link.

operative position.

Referen es C'ted the file of this atent 7. A control mechanism is cla1med m claim 2 wherein c l m p the oscillatory driven member is coupled by a link to a 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS pair of rocker arms mounted on a shaft and keyed there- 1,231,463 Upham June 26, 1917 to, one arm being coupled by a link to the oscillatory 1,469,515 Kelly Oct. 2, 1923 feeler member and the other arm being slidably coupled 1,636,404 Blaine July 19, 1927 by another link to a withdrawal device for the front lays. 1,883,471 Barrett Oct. 18, 1932 8. A control mechanism as claimed in claim 7, where- 10 2,356,315 Gudger Aug. 22, 1944 

